Lewis Hamilton starts the season as Formula One's youngest world champion and aiming to become the first British driver to retain the title.
It promises to be the 24-year-old McLaren driver's greatest challenge yet with new regulations, a car that has been well off the pace in testing, and a host of hungry rivals eager to put him in his place.
Compatriots Jackie Stewart (1969, 1971, 1973), Jim Clark (1963, 1965), and Graham Hill (1962, 1968) were all multiple champions, but none managed to rack up two crowns in a row.
The club of those who did numbers only eight members and is a roll call of some of the sport's greatest names—Italian Alberto Ascari, Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio, Australian Jack Brabham, France's Alain Prost, Brazilian Ayrton Senna, Finland's Mika Hakkinen, Germany's Michael Schumacher, and Spain's Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton might have been among them already, had he not lost out in his sensational debut 2007 season by a single point and against the odds to Ferrari's Finn Kimi Raikkonen.
The 24-year-old Briton came close to blowing it again last year, beating Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa by the same slender margin after the final race but is ready to move onto a new level now.
"If you were a climber and you've climbed Everest, then you don't fear doing it again. It's something that you know you can do," said McLaren chairman Ron Dennis.
"What you have to do is look at different ways of achieving it. The challenges this year, with a new set of regulations, are different to last. And just as a climber varies his route, I think that's how you have to look at Lewis's approach.
"He will be very focused on those areas where he has to raise his game."
FLAT OUT:
While Hamilton may be more relaxed, mentally stronger, and hungrier than ever, a driver can only do so much if his car is not as quick as the rest.
McLaren has recognised that theirs is not yet fast enough to challenge for race wins, and the big question is how soon can they turn it around with testing banned once the season starts.
Even if he is off the pace in Australia next week, all is not lost however.
"McLaren has started 648 grands prix. We have won 162 of them and have recorded 431 podium finishes. We are proud of our record and have faith in our engineers' ability to work hard to get (the) MP4-24 (car) into a position to add to that record," team principal Martin Whitmarsh said last week.
"Many times in Formula One history have successful teams started off with a car that was not working as well as they had hoped it would, and many times have those successful teams engineered their way back to the front of the grid in impressively short order."
Former champions have little doubt that, assuming McLaren gets their act together, Hamilton can do it again. The mere fact of winning the title comes as a liberation, allowing a driver to move up to another level of confidence and maturity.
LESS PRESSURE:
"I think he has less pressure," Alonso, champion with Renault in 2005 and 2006, told reporters.
"You win the championship, you will be Formula One world champion forever. Now you can enjoy more the racing, you can enjoy the races and make a mistake in one race and know that the championship is very long and there are still many races to recover.
"When you are waiting for your first championship there is a little bit more stress as well because you don't want to lose the opportunity. Once you have the championship, the rest is less pressure."
Alonso cautioned, however, that it is much easier to win back-to-back championships when the regulations are stable because a team can carry through its advantage.
Hamilton will not have that, with significant changes introduced since he won the title. A team that gets it wrong at the start of the season could be playing catch-up for the rest of the year.
The Briton will also find that, as champion, everyone will want a piece of his time, and it will take a particular focus to keep his mind on the job and his feet on the ground when surrounded by adulation and hype.
The sport can offer plenty of examples of drivers whose first title was followed by a dip, for whatever reason.
Raikkonen is the most recent example, with the Finn suffering some bad luck, but also having his motivation constantly questioned last year when he won just two races and finished up third overall.
As he made clear in his typical deadpan fashion, it was not the end of the world. He had already climbed the mountain.
"If I lose (the title), it's probably not going to be hurting as much as if I weren't to have won it," the Ferrari driver said as his campaign fizzled out.
So Bleachers, is Lewis Hamilton good enough to make it two out of three this season?
As Meatloaf once said, "two out of three ain't bad!!"
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